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Swedish Milk, a Swedish Duty: Dairy Marketing in the 1920s and 1930s

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  22 September 2010

CARIN MARTIIN
CARIN MARTIIN*
Affiliation:
Department of Economic History, Stockholm University, SE-106 07 Stockholm, Sweden
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Abstract

On basis of the argument ‘Better milk – increased consumption’ the Swedish association, ‘The Milk Propaganda’, managed to frame a milk marketing project in which economic interests were intertwined with references to public health and the survival of the Swedish countryside. The very idea of marketing milk, building on its quality and health, was presented as mutually beneficial for producers and consumers, and for the entire Swedish society. In the 1920s and 30s the project was visible through posters, a journal, milk restaurants and school campaigns. The story includes fascinating encounters between rurality and urbanity, materialised through milk. During the economic crisis around 1930 milk marketing became aggressive and consumers were urged to consume as much dairy produce as possible in order to fulfil their national duty to help save farmers and the countryside.

Type
Research Article
Information
Rural History , Volume 21 , Issue 2 , October 2010 , pp. 213 - 232
Copyright
Copyright © Cambridge University Press 2010

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References

Notes

1. In Swedish the association was usually called ‘Mjölkpropagandan’ but the complete name was ‘Svenska Mjölkintressenters Upplysningsförening’, which is complicated even in Swedish and hard to translate. A free translation is: Swedish Milk Producers’ Association for Milk Production and Dairy Produce Information. The common name of the association was the same as the name of the association's journal, Mjölkpropagandan from which most of the illustrations in this article are taken. All pictures from Mjölkpropagandan are published with kind permission of the present umbrella organisation ‘Swedish Dairy Association’ (‘Svensk Mjölk’).

2. Atkins, P., ‘School Milk in Britain, 1900–1934’, Journal of Policy History, 19 (2007)CrossRefGoogle Scholar, 407 and ‘The Milk Propaganda’ 1926–12. For more about Britain, see A. Jenkins, Drinka Pinta. The Story of Milk and the Industry that Serves it (1970) and F. McKee, ‘The Popularization of Milk as a Beverage during the 1930s’ in D. F. Smith, ed., Nutrition in Britain: Science, Scientists and Politics in the Twentieth Century (1997), pp. 123–41. According to Mjölkpropagandan 1925–10, p. 168, the head of the Swedish board of the Milk Propaganda had made a study tour to the United States in autumn 1923.

3. Mjölkpropagandan 1925–3, p. 51.

4. Mjölkpropagandan 1927–8, p. 127.

5. Mjölkpropagandan 1928–7, p. 125 and 1932–8, p. 211.

6. Mjölkpropagandan 1929–5, p. 81 and 1931–1, p. 14.

7. Mjölkpropagandan 1931–1, p. 14.

8. Mjölkpropagandan 1935–4, p. 67.

9. For the Netherlands, see De la Bruhèze, A.A.A. and Otterloo, A.H. van, ‘The Milky Way: Infrastructures and the Shaping of Milk Chains’, History and Technology, 20 (2004), 249–69CrossRefGoogle Scholar. For Belgium, the information was generously given by Prof. dr. Yves Segers, ICAG, University of Leuven, Belgium.

10. Historical Statistics of Sweden, Part II, Climate, Land Surveying, Agriculture, Forestry, Fisheries (Swedish National Central Bureau of Statistics, 1959), Table D 14; Part I, population, Table 4; Part II, Tables E40 and E34.

11. Slutbetänkande av Befolkningskommissionen (Final Report from the Commission of Population), SOU (State Committees and Commissions) 1938:57, Appendix, p. 128.

12. Mjölkpropagandan 1929–9, p. 171.

13. Swedish Official Statistics, Dairying 1913–39 (Swedish National Central Bureau of Statistics).

14. This phenomenon is discussed in C. Martiin, ‘Milk as Means of Payment for Farm Labour: The Dairy Economy of a Swedish Estate 1874–1913‘, The Agricultural History Review, 56: 2 (2008), 167–88, which refers to an earlier time period but also is relevant for the process in the 1920s and 1930s.

15. Mjölkpropagandan 1924–2, p. 7.

16. Statistisk årsbok (Statistical Abstract of Sweden) 1956, table 102. (Swedish National Central Bureau of Statistics).

17. Mjölkpropagandan 1924–1, p. 5.

18. Material from the association is archived at the Centre for Business History’ (Centrum för Näringslivshistoria), Bromma, Stockholm. As the archive is incomplete, the association's journal Mjölkpropagandan has been used as an important source. Background information is for example given in Mjölkpropagandan 1924–1, p. 5, 1925–1, p. 3 and 1926–12, p. 215 ff.

19. See, for example, Atkins, ‘School Milk in Britain’, 407.

20. Mjölkpropagandan 1924–2, p. 12 f.

21. Mjölkpropagandan 1925–8 cover and 1926–11, p. 199.

22. The most prominent member of the national board was Bo von Stockenström who periodically was Prime Minister and Agriculture Minister, but also head of the association for a few months in 1930 (Mjölkpropagandan 1930–4, p. 55 and 1930–6, p. 97).

23. Atkins, ‘School Milk in Britain’, 407.

24. Mjölkpropagandan 1930–2, p. 17 and 1931–1, p. 4.

25. Atkins, P., ‘Laboratories, Laws, and the Career of a Commodity’, Environment and Planning D: Society and Space 25 (2007), 973 and 976CrossRefGoogle Scholar.

26. See Callon, M., Méadel, C. and Rabeharisoa, V., ‘The Economy of Qualities’, Economy and Society 31 (2002)CrossRefGoogle Scholar, 196 for a brief discussion about new markets and altered characteristics of the goods traded.

27. L. Sommestad, ‘Från mejerska till mejerist. En studie i mejeriyrkets maskuliniseringsprocess’ [From Dairymaids to Dairymen], 1992, pp. 216 ff; summarised in English at pp. 355 f.

28. Atkins, ‘Laboratories, Laws, and the Career of a Commodity’, p. 971.

29. Callon et al., ‘The Economy of Qualities’, 200. For a theoretical discussion with reference to milk, see Atkins, ‘Laboratories, Laws, and the Career of a Commodity’.

30. Swedish Official Statistics Series N, Agriculture (Swedish National Central Bureau of Statistics) and Mjölkpropagandan 1931–6, p. 89.

31. Mjölkpropagandan 1924–1, p. 5; 1926–12, pp. 215 ff. and 1927–1, p. 3.

32. Record from, the Milk Propaganda's working committee; 20th January 1933., Archive of the Milk Propaganda, Centrum för näringslivshistoria, Stockholm.

33. The edition was 40 000 copies in 1931 (Protocol from the Milk Propaganda's national board, 15 March 1931). Other journals were Lantmannen (1880 onwards) and Svenskt Land (1917–31). While Landtmannen focused on large-scale arable and animal farming, Svenskt Land had many similarities with the more small-scale approach in Mjölkpropagandan.

34. Mjölkpropagandan 1932–12, p. 262.

35. See Mjölkpropagandan 1930–8, p. 193 about ‘mission’. Diplomas were introduced in Mjölkpropagandan 1927–11, p. 181 and 1928–3, p. 33 f. From 1928 onwards the journal continually reported on the distribution of prizes.

36. Gold medals for excellent milk hygiene were introduced in 1958 and are still presented today by the Swedish king (www.svenskmjolk.se 2010-02-26)

37. As an example the association distributed 56 500 posters, 350 000 leaflets and 7 500 placards with advice about good milking hygiene in the cowshed during 1932 (protocol from the Milk Propaganda's national board, 20th January 1933).

38. Atkins, ‘School Milk in Britain’, 407.

39. Mjölkpropagandan 1930–4, p. 75 and 57.

40. Mjölkpropagandan 1931–1, p. 7 and 1931–2, p. 21.

41. Mjölkpropagandan 1935–7, p. 200 f.

42. Mjölkpropagandan 1925–1, p. 8 f.

43. SOU 1938:57, p. 34.

44. SOU 1938:57, p. 25.

45. Record from the Milk Propaganda's national board 11th December 1939, appendix 2.

46. School meals to a limited extent were suggested in 1938 (SOU 1938:57, p. 46).

47. Record from the Milk Propaganda's national board 9th January 1935, appendix 2, official letter to the Ministry of Agriculture.

48. Atkins, P., ‘Fattening Children or Fattening Farmers? School Milk in Britain, 1921–1941’ Economic History Review, 58 (2005)CrossRefGoogle Scholar, 71 and Mjölkpropagandan 1935–1, p. 3.

49. Atkins, ‘Fattening Children or Fattening Farmers?’, 65.

50. See for example Mjölkpropagandan 1926–10, pp. 178 f and 183. The British milk feeding experiments are scrutinised in Atkins, ‘Fattening Children or Fattening Farmers?’

51. Mjölkpropagandan 1931–4, editorial and p. 59.

52. Discussed in Atkins, ‘Fattening Children or Fattening Farmers?’, 69 ff. Pasteurisation was made obligatory in Sweden in 1937 even though exceptions still could be made after this date (SFS 737/1937, Statute book, Pasteurisation).

53. Mjölkpropagandan 1936–2, p. 35.

54. Swedish Official Statistics, Dairying 1913–39.

55. Mjölkpropagandan 1929–7, p. 117.

56. Mjölkpropagandan 1930–5, p. 87.

57. SOU 1938:57, Appendix 3, p. 128 and Swedish Official Dairy Statistics 1913–39.

58. Mjölkpropagandan 1934–2, p. 19.

59. Mjölkpropagandan 1929–8, 141 f and 1932–1, p. 15.

60. The British poster ‘Milk is the backbone. . .’ was shown in Mjölkpropagandan 1927–2, p. 21.

61. Proposition nr 255/1932, 13th May 1932.

62. Mjölkpropagandan 1932–6, p. 163.

63. Mjölkpropagandan Mjölkpropagandan 1932–1, 1932–5 and 1932–8. For more about the early 1930s in English, see F. Just, ‘The Scandinavian Food System between Organisation and State’ 121–136 and M. Morell, ‘Trade Crisis and Regulation of the Farm Sector. Sweden in the Interwar Years‘, both in S-O. Olsson, ed., Managing Crises and De-Globalisation (2009), and S. Hedlund and M. Lundahl, ‘Emergency Considerations in Swedish Agriculture: A Retrospective Look’, European Review of Agricultural Economics, pp. 89–105.

64. Records from the Milk Propaganda's national board: 22.12.1932; 20.01, 09.02, 16.03 1933; 01.03, 06.11 1934 and 09.01 1935.